As members of the Syracuse football team, coaches, family and friends enjoyed an open bar and awaited prime rib yesterday at Goldstein Auditorium, Jake Crouthamel took the podium to make an anticipated announcement to the crowd on hand for the annual Football Banquet.

The SU football program knew it would go to a bowl in December, either in Orlando or Las Vegas, but the question on the large crowd’s mind was, which one? ‘This team has experienced the depth of despair, but finished at the height of elation,’ Crouthamel told the crowd. ‘It took a lot of guts, and as a result…’ He paused, then let out a shriek rivaled only by Howard Dean.

‘We’re going to Disneyland!’

Uh, Mr. Crouthamel. Disneyland is in California. The Syracuse football team will be going to Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Oh, and while there, it’ll also play in the Champs Sports Bowl against Georgia Tech on Dec. 21. The game will take place at the Florida Citrus Bowl and will kick off at 7:45 p.m. It will be televised by ESPN.

Entering this week, it seemed Syracuse would be destined for a bowl in Las Vegas. But SU’s fate depended on the California football team. If Cal had qualified for a Bowl Championship Series bowl, the Orange would have played in Vegas. But yesterday, when the BCS standings were announced, Texas leapfrogged Cal and gained a spot in the BCS, sending the Orange to Orlando. Texas beat Cal for fourth in the BCS by .0129 points.

‘Georgia Tech is a quality team in the upper echelon of the ACC,’ SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said. ‘This will be another exciting matchup between the Big East and the ACC.’

The Orange will have two weeks to prepare for Georgia Tech. Pasqualoni said running back Walter Reyes will likely be ready for the game. He said Reyes practiced Saturday with the rest of the team but was limited in his duties.

Syracuse is allotted 12,500 tickets to the game.

‘We’re appreciative for this opportunity,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘We’ve got kids from Florida. We recruit from Florida. We’ll be home before Christmas Eve. We’re certainly excited for the chance to play Georgia Tech.’

Published on December 5, 2004 at 12:00 pm